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In this book, the author focuses on the sociological origins,
activities, and criminal careers of persistent thieves. He uses a
crime-as-choice framework and a life-course perspective to make
sense of important decisions and changes in the lives of persistent
thieves.
The issue of resettling ex-prisoners and ex-offenders into the
community has become an increasingly important one on both sides of
the Atlantic. In the USA the former Attorney General Janet Reno
identified the issue as 'one of the most pressing problems we face
as a nation' in view of the massive prison population and the rapid
increase in rates of incarceration, while in the UK it has become
an increasingly important issue for similar reasons, and the
subject of recent reports by HM Inspectorate of Prisons and HM
Inspectorate of Probation, as well as from the Social Exclusion
Unit of the Home Office. Yet this issue has not been well served by
the criminological literature, and the new policies and programmes
that have been set up to address the problem have not been well
grounded in criminological thinking. This book seeks to address the
important set of issues involved by bringing together the best of
recent thinking and research into desistance from crime, drawing
upon research in both the UK and the USA, and with a distinct focus
on how this might impact upon the design and implementation of
ex-offender reintegration policy.
The issue of resettling ex-prisoners and ex-offenders into the
community has become an increasingly important one on both sides of
the Atlantic. In the USA the former Attorney General Janet Reno
identified the issue as 'one of the most pressing problems we face
as a nation' in view of the massive prison population and the rapid
increase in rates of incarceration, while in the UK it has become
an increasingly important issue for similar reasons, and the
subject of recent reports by HM Inspectorate of Prisons and HM
Inspectorate of Probation, as well as from the Social Exclusion
Unit of the Home Office. Yet this issue has not been well served by
the criminological literature, and the new policies and programmes
that have been set up to address the problem have not been well
grounded in criminological thinking. This book seeks to address the
important set of issues involved by bringing together the best of
recent thinking and research into desistance from crime, drawing
upon research in both the UK and the USA, and with a distinct focus
on how this might impact upon the design and implementation of
ex-offender reintegration policy.
Persistent thieves--criminals who resume committing crimes of
burglary, robbery, vehicle theft, and ordinary theft despite
previous attempts to stop--are a main focal point of American
criminology and criminal justice. Cast as "career criminals," they
are also one of the principal targets of the "war on crime" that
American governments have waged for more than two decades.Building
on a theoretical interpretation of crime as "choice, "
crime-control policies and programs justified by notions of
deterrence and incapacitation have proliferated. America's urban
police departments now have "repeat offender units," and many of
the new state sentencing codes mandate lengthy sentences for
defendants with previous convictions."Great Pretenders" is based on
the author's original studies and previously published research and
on more than fifty autobiographies of persistent thieves. Shover
uses a crime-as-choice framework and a life-course perspective to
make sense of important decisions and changes in the lives of
persistent thieves. He shows how the working-class origins of most
persistent thieves produce both low legitimate and low criminal
aspirations, even as those origins leave them ill equipped to
exploit comparatively safe, lucrative, and newer forms of criminal
opportunity.In this book Shover describes how many persistent
thieves and hustlers identify with crime and pursue a lifestyle of
"life as party" in which their choices alternately are made in
contexts of drug-using hedonism or desperation. Their estimates of
the likely payoffs from crime are severely distorted, and most give
little thought to possible arrest. As they get older, however,
persistent thieves make qualitative changes in the crimes they
commit, and many eventually stop committing crimes altogether.The
author highlights some unintended consequences of harsh crime
control measures and raises critical questions about the
one-size-fits-all approach to crime of recent decades.
For more than three decades, rational-choice theory has reigned as
the dominant approach both for interpreting crime and as
underpinning for crime-control programs. Although it has been
applied to an array of street crimes, white-collar crime and those
who commit it have thus far received less attention. Choosing
White-Collar Crime is a systematic application of rational-choice
theory to problems of explaining and controlling white-collar
crime. It distinguishes ordinary and upperworld white-collar crime
and presents reasons theoretically for believing that both have
increased substantially in recent decades. Reasons for the increase
include the growing supply of white-collar lure and non-credible
oversight. Choosing White-Collar Crime also examines criminal
decision making by white-collar criminals and their criminal
careers. The book concludes with reasons for believing that
problems of white-collar crime will continue unchecked in the
increasingly global economy and calls for strengthened citizen
movements to rein in the increases.
Nearly six decades have passed since the concept of white-collar
crime was introduced and systematic scholarly investigation of it
began. Although it has proven to be one of the most challenging and
controversial topics in sociology, the concept has taken firm root
in lay and scholarly lexicons where it is widely understand and
used to denote a type of crime that differs fundamentally from
street crime. One way it is different is the backgrounds and
characteristics of it perpetrators; the poor and disreputable
fodder routinely encountered in police stations and in studies of
street crime are seldom in evidence here. Most if not all
white-collar offenders by contrast are distinguished by lives of
privilege, much of it with origins in class inequality. This reader
begins together under a unifying theoretical approach the current
state of knowledge about and debate over white-collar crime.
Editors' introductions preface each of the six chapters in the
book, and each of the thirty-one carefully chosen selections --
both classic and contemporary - has been significantly edited for
readability and suitability for the college student. The readings
address conceptual conflicts as well as empirical studies of the
strucutre of opportunities, the characteristics of white-collar
offenders and their decision making, and the various approaches to
controlling white-collar offering. Additionally, the book includes
twenty-one specially designed panels that call-out particular
issues from the readings by offering case examples taken from local
and regional newspapers. Together, the readings and the panels
offer the student both analysis and examples of white-collar crime.
For more than three decades, rational-choice theory has reigned as
the dominant approach both for interpreting crime and as
underpinning for crime-control programs. Although it has been
applied to an array of street crimes, white-collar crime and those
who commit it have thus far received less attention. Choosing
White-Collar Crime is a systematic application of rational-choice
theory to problems of explaining and controlling white-collar
crime. It distinguishes ordinary and upperworld white-collar crime
and presents reasons theoretically for believing that both have
increased substantially in recent decades. Reasons for the increase
include the growing supply of white-collar lure and non-credible
oversight. Choosing White-Collar Crime also examines criminal
decision making by white-collar criminals and their criminal
careers. The book concludes with reasons for believing that
problems of white-collar crime will continue unchecked in the
increasingly global economy and calls for strengthened citizen
movements to rein in the increases.
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